Karadžić faced charges on 11 counts for
genocide,
crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the
Geneva Convention for his role in the 1992–1995
Bosnian war, especially for the
Srebrenica massacre of July 1995. Consolidating two 1995 indictments into one single document, the indictment against Karadžić (IT-95-5/18) was confirmed on 31 May 2000. Specifically, it included one count of a grave breach of the Geneva conventions of 1949, three counts of violations of the laws or customs of war, two counts of genocide and five counts of crimes against humanity. Karadžić announced he would represent himself during the trial. If convicted, his sentence would be the longest pronounced by the court, exceeding 40 years, which in practice would amount to a
life sentence. Karadžić was tried before a three-judge panel in an open court with a tape-delayed feed; proceedings were in English with Serbian translation. Judge
Alphons Orie (Netherlands) held a first interview with Karadžić on 31 July, with the purpose of establishing whether he understood the charges leveled against him. Orie presented a first opportunity to Karadžić to plead "guilty" or "not guilty" to each of the 11 counts. Karadžić was free to delay his plea for 30 days, after which, "not guilty" was to automatically be entered on his behalf in the absence of a "guilty" plea. He claimed there was a conspiracy against him and refused to enter a plea, therefore the court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf to all 11 charges. He dismissed the
tribunal chaired by Scottish judge Iain Bonomy, as a "court of NATO" disguised as a court of the international community. Karadzic insisted on defending himself (as he is entitled to under the United Nations court's rules) while at the same time he set up a team of advisers led by his Legal Advisor
Peter Robinson of the United States. Judge Bonomy urged Karadžić to hire an attorney and set 20 January as a tentative date for a new status conference. On 3 September 2010, judges warned that Karadžić's trial could take two years longer than expected and stretch into 2014 if prosecutors and Karadžić did not speed up the case. at his trial judgement, 24 March 2016 On 14 February 2016, the ICTY announced that the judgement in the case would be rendered on 24 March 2016.
Alleged Karadžić-Holbrooke deal On 31 July 2008, a summary of the charges were read out in court. Karadžić delayed his plea until 29 August 2008, due to the fact that an amended indictment was being prepared. Karadžić said he would enter his plea to the charges on 29 August. During his first hearing, Karadžić claimed that
Madeleine Albright, along with
Richard Holbrooke, offered him a deal which would allow him not to be prosecuted for war crimes if he would disappear from public life and politics. According to Karadžić, Albright offered him to get out of the way and go to Russia, Greece, or
Serbia and open a private clinic or to at least go to
Bijeljina in northeastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also said that Holbrooke or Albright would like to see him disappear and expressed fear for his life by saying "I do not know how long the arm of Mr Holbrooke or Mrs Albright is...or whether that arm can reach me here". Richard Holbrooke denied such claims, calling them lies in a
Spiegel interview shortly after Karadzic's arrest. Former Bosnian Serb foreign minister
Aleksa Buha claimed that he witnessed the agreement which was made during the night between 18 and 19 July 1996. Claims of such a deal were also investigated by journalists before the capture and trial of Karadžić. After the allegations were broadcast internationally, the Serbian newspaper
Blic claimed that Karadžić was under U.S. protection in exchange for him keeping a low profile and not participating in politics, quoting a "U.S. intelligence source" as saying that the protection ended in 2000 when the
CIA intercepted a phone call of Karadžić in which it became apparent that Karadžić chaired a meeting of his old political party.
Motion to disqualify In a 15 August 2008 letter to
Fausto Pocar, president of The Hague tribunal, Karadžić moved to disqualify and replace presiding Dutch judge Alphons Orie, on the ground of "personal" interest and bias to convict him in order to reinforce and justify "draconian" sentences in his earlier ICTY cases against former Bosnian Serbs leaders: "There clearly cannot be any question of impartiality on his [Judge Orie's] part. He would now be keen on having that ruling "upheld and somehow validated, which could be achieved through, inter alia, partial and biased conduct of the case against me". Karadžić also asked the other judges of Orie's chamber replaced. Preliminary investigations of tribunal cases are conducted by a judge, but trials are heard by a panel of three. The tribunal had no juries. The Hague tribunal president, Fausto Pocar, replaced the whole judge panel on 21 August 2008. The new presiding judge was
Patrick Lipton Robinson.
Wiretaps In 2009, the prosecution presented recorded calls and transcripts of Karadžić's political speeches. In one Karadžić is quoted as saying "Sarajevo will be a black cauldron where Muslims will die," and that "They will disappear, that people will disappear from the face of the earth." In another Karadžić is quoted as saying that "Europe will be told to go fuck itself and not come back till the job is finished."
Hearings The prosecution started its case on 13 April 2010, and completed it on 25 May 2012. The discovery of more than 300 previously unknown bodies in a mass grave at the
Tomašica mine near
Prijedor in September 2013 caused a flurry of motions which ended with the court denying reopening prosecutorial evidence. The defence began its case on 16 October 2012 and completed it in March 2014; Karadžić decided not to testify. ==Judgment==